Travel Documents

Visa Professionals can assist you to apply for a travel document in certain special circumstances. There are 4 types of travel document, depending on your circumstances and your status in the UK:

If you are a refugee, you can apply for a convention travel document.

If you have been given permission to stay in the United Kingdom as a refugee, you can apply to for a convention travel document.

The UKBA will give you this travel document unless they believe there are extremely good reasons to refuse, such as to protect national security. When you apply, you must be legally resident in the United Kingdom and be able to prove your refugee status here.

You must have permission to stay here for at least six months from the date when you make your application.

If you are stateless, you can apply for a stateless person’s document.

You may apply for a stateless persons’ travel document if you have been recognised as a stateless person under the terms of the 1954 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. This convention defined a stateless person as someone who is not considered as a national by any country under the terms of its laws

If you are a citizen of any country and you are currently in the UK, you can apply for a one-way document (known as an IS137).

The one-way document, known as an IS137, allows travel for one journey out of the United Kingdom only. It cannot be used to return to the United Kingdom. If you are currently in the United Kingdom and are a national of any other country, you may apply for a one-way document.

If you have been refused a passport by your own country, you can apply for a certificate of travel.

If you have not been given refugee status in the UK and have not been recognised as a stateless person, you may be able to apply for a certificate of travel, which will give you permission to travel abroad and return here. You must first prove that you have been formally and unreasonably refused a passport by the authorities of the country of which you are a national.

When you know which travel document you should apply for you can contact us to find out how you can apply for a travel document.

For most of these travel documents, you must be legally resident in the UK and have permission to stay here for at least 6 months after the date when you make your application.

The Home Office has issued biometric travel documents since 17 March 2008, but existing travel documents can continue to be used until they expire. The biometric travel document has a new design and security features including a tamper-proof biometric chip. The chip contains the holder’s personal details (name, nationality, sex, place and date of birth, and signature) as shown on page 31 of the document. No other personal information is included on the chip. The applicant’s scanned photograph is the ‘biometric’ element of the document.